Judge Who Sentenced Asaram To Life Imprisonment Transferred

The verdict and sentence in the case was passed on April 25.

Days after Asaram was given a life sentence for raping a minor girl in his ashram, the judge, Madhu Sudan Sharma, who passed the sentence has been transferred, say reports.

Hindustan Times reported that Sharma, who was a judge at the special SC/ST court in the Jodhpur metropolitan is has now joint secretary (law) in the law and legal affairs department in Jaipur.

Sharma had pronounced the verdict from the Jodhpur Central Jail on the direction of the Rajasthan High Court because of security concerns.

Hindustan Times reported that five officers of the district judge cadre and nine other judicial officers were transferred by the Rajasthan High Court registrar general on Wednesday.

After the verdict the survivor's father had told the media, "Asaram is convicted, we have got justice. I want to thank everyone who supported us in this fight. Now I hope he will get strict punishment. I also hope the witnesses who were murdered or kidnapped get justice."

Asaram was arrested by the Jodhpur police on August 3, 2013 after allegations of sexually assaulting a minor girl, 16 years old, in his ashram in Jodhpur on the pretext of exorsising her of evil spirits.

Asaram had been charged with rape, sexual harassment, criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy.

The police had said that the girl was taken to the ashram in Manai in August 2013 for a "nightly ritual" where she and Asaram were alone in the room.

She had also alleged that he had threatened the girl and asked her to keep quiet about the incident. The girl told her her parents about the incident two days after the incident after which they filed a complaint against him in Delhi.

The survivors parents had also said that they were continuously threatened by Asaram's followers after his arrest.